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Hans Baldung (c. 1480 - 1545), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Cases: Women and men accused by the group to which they belong of being witches or sorcerers and, as such, subjected to persecution which can lead to murder, who apply for international protection (international protection); women and men forced to become witches or sorcerers (international protection); witchcraft rites to subjugate individuals and cast evil spells on them (criminal law - see also the entry Voodoo rituals in this Guidebook). 

Cultural test

Legal Insights

Anthropological insights

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Proposed balancing act: in view of the impact on the person, it is suggested that the judge should consider the role of witchcraft as relevant and therefore recognise that it creates dangerous situations that may justify requests for international protection, especially if such situations may result in a witch hunt. 

Bibliographic references

Legal Bibliography
 
Bianchini K. (2021), “The Role of Expert Witness in the Adjudication of Religious and Culture-based Asylum Claims in the United Kingdom: the Case Study of ‘Witchcraft’ Persecution”, Journal of Refugee Studies, Vol. 34, No 4, pp. 3793 – 3819.
Cavina, M. (2020). “Il missionario, il giudice, il legislatore. Decrittazioni giuridiche della stregoneria nell’Africa occidentale subsahariana (sec. XVII-XX)”. In HISTORIA ET IUS, 17/2020, pp. 1-69.
Decarli, G. (2021). “Esperienze di consulenza antropologica nel giudizio di protezione internazionale. L’antropologo antropologo”. In Diritto, Immigrazione e Cittadinanza, fasc. n. 2/2021, pp. 155 –189.
Del Rosso, F. G. (2020). “Il dovere di cooperazione istruttoria officiosa e le 'country of origin information' nel procedimento per il riconoscimento della protezione internazionale e umanitaria”. In Diritti senza confini. Consultabile in link.
Fiore, O., & Celoria, E. (2020). "In difesa di una strega". In Diritti senza confini. Consultabile in link.
Igwe, L. (2014, 24 ottobre). "Understanding Witchcraft Accusation in Africa". Disponibile su link.
Maakor Quarmyne (2011). “Witchcraft: A Human Rights Conflict Between Customary/Traditional Laws and the Legal Protection of Women in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa”. In William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law, Article 7, February 2011, Volume 17 (2010-2011) Issue 2, pp. 475 – 507.
Quassoli, F., & Uboldi, C. (2020). “La credibilità del richiedente protezione internazionale tra cultura del sospetto, intuizioni e dilemmi etici. Alcune riflessioni a partire da un’indagine sulle prassi operative delle commissioni territoriali”. In Diritto, Immigrazione e Cittadinanza, fasc. n. 2/2020, pp. 181 – 205.
Sanou, B. (2017). "Witchcraft Accusation: Destroying Family, Community and Church". In Journal of Adventist Mission Studies.
UNHCR (2009). "Nota sulle accuse di stregoneria - Research Paper No. 169, Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the evidence, Jill Schnoebelen".
UNHCR (2011). "Breaking the spell: responding to witchcraft accusation against children".
 
Anthropological bibliography (recommended reading)
 
Comaroff, J., & Comaroff, J. (1993). Modernity and its Malcontent. Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Comaroff, J., & Comaroff, J. (1999). “Occult economies and the violence of abstraction: notes from the South-African postcolony”. In American Ethnologist, 26(2), pp. 279-303.
Geschiere, P. (1995). La viande des autres. Sorcellerie et politique en Afrique. Paris: Karthala.
Geschiere, P. (1997). The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the occult in postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
 
Comaroff and Geschiere's readings are indispensable for understanding witchcraft in the contemporary age. Their decades of experience in ethnographic study provide a heterogeneous and clear perspective of the phenomenon in the present day, i.e. to understand the ability of witchcraft to adapt to changing times and contexts.
 
Anthropological bibliography (for further reading)
 
 Bellagamba, A. (2008). L’Africa e la stregoneria. Saggio di antropologia storica. Roma: Edizione Laterza.
Brivio, A. (2001). “Mami Wata, violenza e seduzione”. In Balsamo F., a cura di, World Wide Women: Globalizzazione, Generi, Linguaggi, vol. 2, Torino, CIRSDe, pp. 77-88.
Brivio, A. (2012). Vodu in Africa. Metamorfosi di un culto. Roma: Viella editore.
Favret-Saada, Jeanne (1977). Les Mots, la mort, les sorts : la sorcellerie dans le bocage. Gallimard, Parigi.
Geschiere, P. (1997). The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the occult in postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia.
Gray, N. (2001). “Witches, Oracles, and Colonial Law: Evolving Anti-Witchcraft Practices in Ghana, 1927- 1932”. In The International Journal of African Historical Studies, 34(2), pp. 339-363.
Pavanello, M. (2017). “Witchcraft and dream. A discussion of the Akan case”. In Pavanello, M., ed., Perspectives on African Witchcraft, Routledge, pp. 104-132.
Simonicca, A. (2009). “Il ritorno della Stregoneria”. In P. Clemente, C. Grottanelli, a cura di, Comparativamente, Firenze, SEID, pp. 189-222.